As I said, I have two season tickets to the Rams and 1/4 of 2 season tickets to the Cardinals. What LA teams do you have season tickets to? Any of you? Or are you more TV freeloaders who don't buy season tickets?

I will assume the lack of any response means, no, none of you great LA sports fans own season tickets to an LA sports teams. If you just want a team you can watch on TV, then it shouldn't matter to you if they just stay in St Louis where those of us who support our local teams with season ticket seats can go to see them live.

I didn't start the LA vs St Louis fans debate but the point I want to make is that I think fans in the US are about the same everywhere. Sound like we all now agree St Louis currently has rabid Cards fans and Blues fans. They both make the playoffs every year. Rams have been a bit worse missing the playoffs and winning record ten straight years. I remember when the Clippers were a laughing stock. I'm sure Clipper gear sales were reduced then, and they didn't come close to a 10 year drought. Trying to characterize all 2.8 million St Louisans as fundamentally different with regards to team support brain function is just silly. We are all the same.

With regard to attendance rank, did you notice Pittsburgh Steelers barely beat us out in attendance? And they made the playoffs. Did you see the MNF game with all the empty seats in Pittsburgh? They won that game. And Pittsburgh has been good quite a bit lately. Should the NFL move the Steelers to LA?

Also, we sellout games with Midwest teams that a lot of St Louisans hale from or would like to see the Rams defeat due to regional and family rivalries. (Like Cubs games in baseball). But few away fans show up from Seattle, Arizona, or SF who we have to play every year in football. Just imagine our attendance numbers if we played in the NFC North or AFC North.

Re: OFFICIAL (and only) "Rams to L.A." Thread

Originally Posted by zgare

I will assume the lack of any response means, no, none of you great LA sports fans own season tickets to an LA sports teams. If you just want a team you can watch on TV, then it shouldn't matter to you if they just stay in St Louis where those of us who support our local teams with season ticket seats can go to see them live.

I responded that I did not have season tickets to the Ducks, the only close and resonable sport near me because I us that money every year to go watch the Rams play in a different city. Maybe I should have said that yes, I have season tickets to the Rams for one game a year in a different stadium.

Re: OFFICIAL (and only) "Rams to L.A." Thread

Originally Posted by zgare

I will assume the lack of any response means, no, none of you great LA sports fans own season tickets to an LA sports teams. If you just want a team you can watch on TV, then it shouldn't matter to you if they just stay in St Louis where those of us who support our local teams with season ticket seats can go to see them live.

I too have ventured to St Louis to see the Rams play. I plan on going again. But I digress.....

My point stands on the lack of civic pride is St Louis for the Rams. And as for a wining product......yes, I suppose the fans can and will come out to see their local team win. But a City that already lost one NFL team with the woeful attendance of past few years is puzzling to me. I mean, you folks know what it is like to lose a pro football franchise, right? Get behind your team. Win or lose. Those of us with roots back to the days of LA and we still root for them (always will) surely get that.

Re: OFFICIAL (and only) "Rams to L.A." Thread

Originally Posted by macrammer

I too have ventured to St Louis to see the Rams play. I plan on going again. But I digress.....

My point stands on the lack of civic pride is St Louis for the Rams. And as for a wining product......yes, I suppose the fans can and will come out to see their local team win. But a City that already lost one NFL team with the woeful attendance of past few years is puzzling to me. I mean, you folks know what it is like to lose a pro football franchise, right? Get behind your team. Win or lose. Those of us with roots back to the days of LA and we still root for them (always will) surely get that.

Actually, the skidbirds did not leave St. Louis for lack of attendance. They left because the city would not build them a staduim ful of box seats. IIRC, teams share the revenue off all seats except Box Seats. The team gets to keep 100% of the revenue from Box Seats, which is why teams want a significant number of Box Seats in their stadium. Busch Stadium had very few (if any) Box Seats, so the skidbirds had to share 100% of the ticket revenue with the other 29 teams.

Re: OFFICIAL (and only) "Rams to L.A." Thread

I don't agree with the statement that the "fans in the US are about the same everywhere". Not true, in my experience. Here in the NY/NJ area, people are HUGE NFL fans while college football takes a major back seat. In the South, it's just the opposite. In some cities (Green Bay comes to mind), the pro team is part of the fabric of that city, while in other large cities there are a million other things to do if a team isn't worth watching. Everything is different from city to city for numerous reasons.

I completely understand that a true fan who has season tickets and goes to every game would react very negatively to the prospect (however small) of their team possibly leaving. I'd feel threatened and ticked off too. But that doesn't change the fact that the Rams are not supported by enough people at the gate.
Maybe I'm oversimplifying this issue, but I think it boils down to one simple fact: If a team is selling out its games, there is no way an owner would be able to prove hardship and thus look to leave town.

I don't agree with the statement that the "fans in the US are about the same everywhere". Not true, in my experience. Here in the NY/NJ area, people are HUGE NFL fans while college football takes a major back seat. In the South, it's just the opposite. In some cities (Green Bay comes to mind), the pro team is part of the fabric of that city, while in other large cities there are a million other things to do if a team isn't worth watching. Everything is different from city to city for numerous reasons. I completely understand that a true fan who has season tickets and goes to every game would react very negatively to the prospect (however small) of their team possibly leaving. I'd feel threatened and ticked off too. But that doesn't change the fact that the Rams are not supported by enough people at the gate. Maybe I'm oversimplifying this issue, but I think it boils down to one simple fact: If a team is selling out its games, there is no way an owner would be able to prove hardship and thus look to leave town.

When Green Bay stunk several years back, so did support. Just like the Clippers, just like the KC Royals when they were bad. Just like the Rams now Fans are people and people are the same everywhere. When their team wins, attendance goes up. When they lose 10 years in a row, it levels off or goes down. Citing Green Bay, the St Louis Redbirds of football, as the team that has a loyal fan base despite their record of recent success, is a joke, right? How is Laker excitement in LA?

I am flying back from LA right now. (In flight wifi an iPad mini). At the large cafeteria at the place I visited, I really looked for sport shirts. Young folks untucked and older folks tucked, about like St Louis. But I did not see a single hint of sports clothing on anyone there. And I really looked around to find some.

At my gate for my flight back to STL, I saw 4 people with Cards gear, one with a Blues shirt, one with Michigan State, and one with Southern Illinois. Cards and Blues are in-season of course. No LA sports teams at all. Flight is AA 12:40 nonstop from LAX to STL, and I suppose it might have only had St Louisans flying home. But I was not really too surprised. It matched what I expected. St Louisans show the same or more support for sports than many cities, especially LA. Do your own count in LA. That is why I could not buy the original charge that a guy walking around downtown St Louis made--that St Louisans don't wear sports clothes and hence don't support our teams. It didn't square with my experience.

Re: OFFICIAL (and only) "Rams to L.A." Thread

Bad choice on my part. I wonder what that other 1.2% were doing? Your press is panicking but I'm sure they will make the playoffs.

The Lakers have only had 7 losing seasons since they moved to LA in 1960. The Rams have had 7 over the last 7 years. I don't think LA has ever had a team that lost for 10 straight years.

Lakers have been out of the playoffs for a long time. They're currently 19 games behind the 8th place team in the conference with I think 11 games to go. All we keep hearing is St Louis is a great sports town, but only if the team wins. Not buying it I think it's a great baseball town.

Re: OFFICIAL (and only) "Rams to L.A." Thread

Originally Posted by Mikey

Lakers have been out of the playoffs for a long time. They're currently 19 games behind the 8th place team in the conference with I think 11 games to go. All we keep hearing is St Louis is a great sports town, but only if the team wins. Not buying it I think it's a great baseball town.

That is my take as well. A great baseball town. Saw it first hand last October......

Re: OFFICIAL (and only) "Rams to L.A." Thread

I have no issue with the people of St. Louis, who I found to be super friendly in my two visits there. I also have tremendous respect for their baseball fandom, among the best in all of MLB. What they are NOT doing is supporting the Rams in the kind of numbers necessary to put aside all the talk about them potentially leaving town at some point. The easy thing to do is to point to the losing to justify the lack of support. But I see an owner who has spent money, a respected veteran coach running the show and a young team which has improved and should continue to do so. Having the Dome filled with Bears or Packers fans is disgusting any way you slice it.